Baseball

Rams Headed to the Division III World Series

May 17, 2009

Rams Headed to the Division III World
Series

#4 Farmingdale State - 8, #3 Rensselaer - 0

Farmingdale, N.Y. - The Farmingdale State
baseball team is headed to the 2009 NCAA Division III College World
Series after defeating 22nd-ranked Rensselaer 8-0 in today's New
York Region Championship game. The Rams will be making their
first-ever appearance in the championship round held at Fox Cities
Stadium in Appleton, Wisconsin on May 22-26.

Farmingdale went 4-1 to capture the Regional title, falling to RPI
on Wednesday night 5-4, and responding with four straight victories
with wins over Clarkson 19-10, 19th-ranked Cortland 6-4, and the
two wins over 22nd-ranked RPI, 13-9 and 8-0.

Senior right hander Tom Heeman (Valley Stream, N.Y.), who was
named the New York Regional MVP after picking up a win and a save
in three appearances, scattered eight hits - all singles - and
struck out seven while not issuing a walk. He also struck out the
final two batters in the ninth inning to preserve a 6-4 win over
Cortland on Friday night. In all, Heeman hurled 16.1 innings over
the five-day tournament, giving up just 14 hits and one walk while
striking out 16 batters.

The Rams (30-15) got on the board with three runs in the second
inning and never looked back, as they held the Red Hawks (37-13)
scoreless for just the second time this season.

Junior Mike Labrozzi (Sag Harbor, N.Y.) came home to score the
first run of the game on a single by Donny Moscatelli (Massapequa,
N.Y.) and an error for the 1-0 lead. Senior Rich Gili brought in
two runs with a single down the right field line for the Rams to
take the 3-0 advantage.

A Frank Yera (Manhattan, N.Y.) triple in the fifth brought in Gili,
4-0 Farmingdale, and Yera came home off an RBI from junior Zak
Nersesian (Nyack, N.Y.).

In the sixth, the Rams added two more with an RBI single from Vinny
Block and another RBI single from Gili. The final run was scored in
the eighth by junior Frank Ennis (Commack, N.Y.) on an RBI single
up the middle from junior Steve King (Freeport, N.Y.).

The Tournament Committee selected 11 players for the
All-Tournament Team.